Monitors & Geckos
There are five groups of lizards in this part of the world, namely monitors, geckos, dragons, legless-lizards, and skinks. Monitors, also known as goannas, and geckos are described here.
Worldwide, monitors belong to the single genus Varanus which comprises 78 species. Monitors are very distinct from other reptiles and like snakes have a forked tongue. There are two monitors in this region. Rosenberg’s is a ground dwelling monitor while the Lace Monitor is often found in trees. Rosenberg’s is a lightish brown with orange bands, whereas the Lace Monitor is darker in colour, but also with bands, with a few very broad bands on the second half of its tail.
Worldwide, there are some seven families of geckos (Gekkota) comprising 1500 species largely living in the tropics. Australian geckos belong to the families Diplodactylidae, Carphodactylidae and Gekkonidae.
Geckos are easily recognised, being mostly nocturnal with soft bodies and tiny granular scales. They have well-developed limbs with five digits, large eyes with vertical pupils, no eyelids, and broad fleshy tongues. In the absence of eyelids, the tongue is used to lick the eye clean.
Geckos are amazing animals, characterised by their amazing colour patterns, ability to vocalise (using chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos), adhesive toe pads (being able to adhere to almost any surface), lack of eyelids (instead have a transparent membrane which they lick to clean), spectacular colour vision (350 times more sensitive than human colour vision and sensitive to UV, blue, and green), being ‘polyphyodont’ (teeth are constantly replaced), and ‘autonomy' (ability to can lose their tails in defence). They are nocturnal.
A standard measurement in the description of reptiles is the snout-vent length (SVL) which is measured from the tip of the nose (snout) to the anus (vent), and excludes the tail. This may be a helpful in distinguishing various species of goannas and geckos.
Announcements
Discussion
If you are living at this location you might be interested to retain photos of the left and right faces of any goannas you see as they live for decades and are uniquely recognisable. So over a period of years it is sometimes possible to tell the extent to which a population is resident and stable or experiencing high turnover. But you need to move slowly and patiently to get close enough to some individual goannas to record their faces.
Varanus rosenbergi
Diplodactylus vittatus
Diplodactylus vittatus
Recent activity
Varanus rosenbergi at Jerangle, NSW
Varanus rosenbergi at Jerangle, NSW
Varanus rosenbergi at Jerangle, NSW
Varanus rosenbergi at Tharwa, ACT
Varanus rosenbergi at Tharwa, ACT
Varanus rosenbergi at Tharwa, ACT
Christinus marmoratus at Dunlop, ACT
Christinus marmoratus at Dunlop, ACT
Top contributors
- DonFletcher 148
- AlisonMilton 44
- Illilanga 41
- AaronClausen 31
- Bidge 28
- MatthewHiggins 24
- MichaelMulvaney 23
- TimL 23
- Darcy 22
- Christine 21
Top moderators
- DonFletcher 335
- wombey 286
- GeoffRobertson 144
- PatrickCampbell 92
- MichaelMulvaney 63
- WillO 61
- BrianLR 28
- jks 27
- MichaelBedingfield 16
- MatthewHiggins 16
